Combined flue and check draft damper unit



' May 11, 1948. J. A. DELlA 7 2,441,398

GOMB IN ED FLUE AND CHECK DRAFT DAMPER UNIT Filed July 16, 1945 PatentedMay 11,1948

- ooMniNEn s harem OFFICE FLUE AND CHECKDRAFT DAMPER UNIT Joseph A.DElia, Fairfield, Conn.

v Application July 16, 1943, Serial No. 494,971

6 Claims. 1 This invention relates to new and usetul improvements inheating systems and has particular relation to a heat lock or meansforregula ing the draft in and the effective internal area to existinginstallations or incorporated in new work and which when once adjustedby the mechanic making the installation needs no further adjustment orattention on the part of the householder. 7

Another object is to provide adevice as indi cated and which is ofsimple and inexpensive construction, contains no parts likely to get outof orderand which will have a long useful life.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent froma consideration of the following detailed description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing wherein a satisfactoryembodiment of the invention is shown. However, is to be understood thatinvention is not limited to the details disclosed but includes all suchvariations and modifications as fall within the spirit oftheinventionand the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a side elevational View showing an oil fired furnace with thedevice ofthe invention mounted in the flue thereof; I

I Fig.2 is atop plan view of the device of the invention alone;

Fig. 3 is aside elevational view of the such a regulating the amount ofdraft in said flue and for partially blocking thesame to prevent the toorapid escape of hot gases thercthrough Heretofore it has not beenuncommon to. place bricksand the like in dues for the purpose ofpartially blocking the same and various means v have been providedforadmitting air to dues for theipurpose 0f checking the drafttherethrough.

Referring in detail to the drawing at it! is incheated on a small scalean oil fired heating unit, the flue H of which is connected with achimney I2. Generally speaking the size of the I due openings of theheating units and the sizes of fines used with said units are notparticularly adapted for the particular units. Thus in many instanceswith a small fire and a, large flue having considerable draft a goodpart of the heat generated is lost to the householder. This is truesince the heated gases are, under the named circumstances, taken up thechimney before extraction therefrom of that portion of the heat whichshould be, has been extracted from such gases.

According to the invention flue H is provided in a side, preferably inan upper side, with an opening l3 and disposed on the flue over suchopening is the present heat lock or unit generally designated is. Thisunit as herein disclosed comprises a cast body 55 hollow and open at oneside and somewhat elongated in side elevation. It includes transverselyarcuate end portions l6 and 11 receiving the ends of the opening I3 inthe flue. The lower edges of body [5 overlie the upper edges of theopening [3 and the entire body is secured on the flue as by screws M orthe like.

Intermediate its ends body l5 isprovided with a generally rectangularportion l9 opening through its upper side and means are provided forpartially or wholly closing the opening 20 through said portion. Suchmeans comprises a door or plate-like cover 2! including mounting lugs 22into which are threaded screws 23 and 24 respectively. These screws passfreely through the side walls of portion it and are threaded into lugs.When in closed position cover 21 is at a slight slant and its free edgeportion is at the upper side of the casting portion IS. A finger piece25 on one edge of the cover lies against the upper edge of therectangular portion [9 preventing the cover from moving into the castbody and providing means by which the cover may be manually moved.

'Mounted in the arcuate portion it of the body I5 is a damper or valve26. Damper 26 is circular or substantially so and is at opposite edgesabove its center provided with lugs 21 and secured in place as by a setscrew 33 passing througha hub portion.

At-one point along its edge the disc 32 Qis'pr'ovided with a pointer 34and on its outer-face the said disc may be provided with indicating dataas the numerals shown. Preferably the disc is secured to the shaft 30 insuch relation that the pointer 34 of the disc is in alignment orparallel with the damper or valve 26. This is as shown. The outer orfree end of the above men tioned hub portion of disc 32 is toothed orroughened as at 35 and a lever 36 on shaft 3!! beyond said hub portionand turnable about said shaft has a toothed or roughened portion 31meshing with the teeth 35 of the said disc hub.

A nut 38 threaded onto the outer end portion of shaft 33 is threadedagainst the outer side of lever 36 to maintain the teeth 31 of thelatter engaged with the teeth 35 of the disc 32. In this way the disc,shaft 3!! and the lever 36 are secured against casual relative movement.Lever 36 is weighted at its outer end as shown at 39K The partyinstalling the present device checks to determine the draft in thechimney and when such test shows the draft to be greater than requiredfor the burner capacity to be used he sets the door or cover 21 accoringly. Thus such door is opened to an extent sufficient to out the draftdown to what it should be and the said door is then secured in thepartly open condition. This last is accomplished by tightening either orboth of the screws 23 and 2 3.

When said screws are tightened while the -door 2| is held partly open,as in the dotted line positions of Figs. 3 and 5, the door is secured insuch partly open position since the heads of the screws are tightenedagainst the outer sides of the rectangular portion It of the casting l5.Thereafter the householder does not attempt any adjustments of the door2! but on the contrary permits it to remain in the position to which itis adjusted by the mechanic or other experienced party making theinitial installation. The door being partly open admits air to the fluell effectively checking the draft therein so that the latter is onlythat required for the particular installation made.

Somewhat similarly the party making the installation adjusts theposition of the damper 26. This damper does not have a snug fit in theflue and in fact the flue is of considerable greater internal diameterthan the exterior diameter of the damper. This is to permit of theescape of gases up the flue about the damper at all times. The positionof the damper after proper installation depends on the consumptioncapacity of the burner of the particular installation, Thus if theburner has a capacity of three gallons per hour the damper is more openthan in an instance where the burner has a capacity of only one or twogallons per hour.

In making an adjustment the nut 38 is loosened and the lever 35 adjustedabout shaft 30 relative to the disc 32, The position of the damperwithin the flue is indicated by the pointer 34 on the edge of the disc,As the lever is adjusted to place its weight 39 at different angles tothedamper and locked to the damper by tightening of nut 38 to interlockthe teeth 35 and 31 the weight is more or less effective to hold thedamper partly open. The damper is movable through 90 degrees as from aposition transversely of the flue to a position parallel with thecentral axis thereof as suggested by the dotted lines in Fig. 5.

After lever 36 has been adjusted to properly locate the weight 39further adjustment is to be avoided. The nut is simply tightened to lockthe lever to the hub of the disc 32 and the latter being fast shaft 30and such shaft being fast with the damper th lever and its weighted endwill normally maintain the damper at the proper angle. Obviously thedamper will retard the flow of gases from the furnace of the chimney.This holding back of the flow of heated gases results in a greaterproportion of heat being extracted from them and results in an economyof fuel consumption.

It is particularly noted that the damper is not absolutely fixed inposition. It is merely counterbalanced by a weight so that any force toovercome such weight may cause the damper to move to a fully openposition, as to the dotted line position of Fig. 5. In case of temporaryfailure of an oil burner a small explosion may occur. The

damper of the invention in such instance is more or less free, beingrestrained only by weight 39,

to swing'to fully open position when engaged by the force of theexplosion so that such force is free to escape without damage to anypart of the device of the invention or the heating unit with which it isused.

When the force of the explosion passes the weight returns the valve ordamper to its previously set position, The damper of the invention willbe retained in position partly closing the flue ll after the flame ofthe oil burner is shut off and will thus serve to retain the heatedgases in the heating unit and prevent the free flow of air or the liketherethrough such as would result in a rapid cooling of the fire bricks,etc., of the unit.

From the above it will be seen that the present invention provides meansfor affecting a savings in fuel consumption. Further the means of theinvention does not require any constant attention or any adjustments bythe householder. I have a simple and compact means for my purpose and ameans which does not include operating parts likely to get out of orderand require the attention of a service man.

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention, what I claim is:

1. A regulator including a body having a concave side adapted to bemounted on a flue over an opening in the latter, a damper, pivot meansmounting said damper on said body at the hollow side thereof and withthe damper projecting from such side whereby the damper is disposed in aflue when the body is mounted thereon, said pivot means extending to oneside of said body and rigid with said damper, a disc on said extendingportion of the pivot means and rigid therewith, means on said disc andindicating the relation of the latter to said damper, said disc having atoothed hub portion, a lever on and turnable about the extending portionof said pivot means, teeth on said lever for interlocking with the teethof said hub portion, a nut on said extending portion of said pivot meansand adapted to be tightened to secure the teeth of the lever ininterlocking relation with the teeth of said hub portion to fix therelation of the lever to the pivot means, damper and disc, and saidlever weighted at its outer end whereby depending on its fixed relationto the damper it biases the latter toward open position.

2. A regulator including a body having a concave side adapted to bemounted on a flue over an opening therein, said body having an openingtherein, a door in said opening, means pivotally mounting said door,said door being of less area than said opening, a finger piece on saiddoor for manipulation thereof and extending therefrom beyond an edgethereof a distance to engage said body at a side of said opening toprevent complete movement of said door through said opening, and meansfor securing said door against casual movement when in a position ofopen ad justment;

3. A regulator including a body having a concave side adapted to bemounted on a flue over an opening therein, said body having an openingtherein, a door in said opening, means pivotally mounting said door,said door being of less area than said opening, a finger piece on saiddoor for manipulation thereof and extending therefrom beyond an edgethereof a distance to engage said body at a side of said opening toprevent complete movement of said door through said opening, and saidpivot means including a screw passing through a wall of said body andthreaded into a portion of said door whereby on tightening of said screwsaid door is secured against casual movement in a desired position ofopen adjustment.

4. A regulator including a body having a concave side adapted to bemounted on a flue over an opening therein, said body having an openingtherein, a door for closing said opening, means pivotally mounting saiddoor for pivotal movement toward and from closed position, means forsecuring said door in open position, a damper, a pivot meansmountingsaid damper on said body at the hollow side thereof and with thedamper projecting from such side whereby the damper is disposed in aflue when the body is mounted on the latter, and adjustable meansyieldingly biasing said damper from normal relation to the longitudinalaxis of said flue.

5. A regulator including a body having a concave side adapted to bemounted on a flue over an opening therein, said body having an openingtherein, a door in said opening, means pivotally mounting said door,said door being of less area than said opening, a finger piece on saiddoor for manipulation thereof. and extending therefrom beyond an edgethereof a distance to engage said body at a side of said opening. toprevent complete movement of said door through said opening, means forsecuring said door against casual movement when in a position of openadjustment, a damper, means mounting said damper on said body at theconcave side thereof and with the damper projecting from such sidewhereby the damper is disposed in a flue when the body is mounted on aflue, said pivot means extending to one side of said body and rigid withsaid damper, a weighted lever turnable about said pivot means at oneside of the body, and means to secure said weighted lever to said pivotmeans in the desired angular relation of the weight to the damperwhereby to bias the latter toward open position.

6. A regulator including a body having a concave side adapted to bemounted on a fine over an opening therein, said body having an openingtherein, a door in said opening, means pivotally mounting said door,said door being or less area than said opening, a finger piece on saiddoor for manipulation thereof and extending therefrom beyond an edgethereof a distance to engage said body at a side of said opening toprevent complete movement of said door through said opening, said pivotmeans including a screw passing through a wall of said body and threadedinto a portion of said door whereby on tightening of said screw saiddoor is secured against casual movement in a desired position of openadjustment, a damper, pivot means mounting said damper on said body atthe concave side thereof and with the damper projecting from said sidewhereby the damper is disposed in a flue when the body is mountedthereon, said pivot means extending to one side of said body and rigidwith said damper, a disc on said extending portion of the pivot meansand rigid therewith, means on said disc and indicating the relation ofthe latter to the damper, said disc having a toothed hub portion, alever on and turnable about the extending portion of said pivot means,teeth on said lever for interlocking with the teeth of said hub portion,a nut on said extending portion of said pivot means and adapted to betightened to secure the teeth of the lever in interlocking rela tionwith the teeth of said hub portion to fix the relation of the lever tothe pivot means, damper and disc, and said lever weighted at its outerend whereby depending on its fixed relation to the damper it biases thelatter toward an open position.

- JOSEPH A. DELIA,

REFERENCES CITED 'The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

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